One Word but Many Tongues: Confessions of a Multiculturalist

by Matthew J. Motyka

Overview

This book recounts the author’s spiritual transformation resulting from his encounter with new languages and cultures. This encounter allowed the author to transcend the boundaries imposed on him by the circumstances of his birth (born and raised behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War). The fresh outlook on the world that emerged for him is the kind of radical shift that lies at the heart of all intense spiritual experiences, regardless of faith affiliation. His journey moves beyond the self to explore the domain of otherness in language, literature, and the arts. Ultimately, the author arrives at a spiritual place in which disparate, culture-bound realms blend—an expanse of acceptance, harmony, and peace.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761868460
Publisher:	Hamilton Books
Publication date:	11/28/2016
Pages:	130
Product dimensions:	5.97(w) x 8.91(h) x 0.38(d)

About the Author

Matthew J. Motyka, S.J. is Associate Professor of Romance Languages in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at the University of San Francisco where he directs the French and Italian programs. He holds a doctorate in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Jesuit priest, member of the California Province.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
A Note on Translations
Prologue
One: When Life Was a French Dream
Two: Outpouring of the Dream into Real Life
Three: The Dream Becoming Flesh
Four: Rolling in the Deep
Five: Saint Louis de Gonzague: Foreshadowing
Six: San Francisco: New World, New Life
Seven: O Beautiful!
Eight: From Illusion to the Truth
Nine: A Coda: The Idiom of the Human Heart
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Matthew Motyka’s fascinating reflections on the transformative nature of living life multilingually and multiculturally are as engaging as they are edifying. Tracing his lifelong journey of “continual beginnings” and encountering otherness (from Polish to French, English, Spanish, and Italian), his story is one of courtship—with languages, ideas, and ways of being that ultimately deepen Motyka’s capacity for spirituality. A literary and personal peregrination that will reward all readers curious about language, culture, and faith.

Richard Kern

This book is a unique, rich blend of deep scholarship and generously shared personal narrative. In it, Matthew Motyka compellingly depicts his complex, ever-evolving, international, multicultural, multilingual life and identity. The three greatest “calls” of his life have been that of the French language, literature, and culture; that of the life of the intellect, and that of Jesuit spirituality. The book is suffused with the author’s deep knowledge of, and search for transcendence through, languages, cultures, literature, and religion. It is written engagingly and accessibly, and will appeal both to fellow scholars and to the general reader.

Stephanie Vandrick

Matthew Motyka's lovely narrative embodies and brings to life the adage that 'the person who speaks two languages is two persons." Assuming there is a real person behind every language one speaks, Matthew gifts us with a wisdom, a clarity, a delicacy, and a humanity which, in their blessed aggregate, both ennoble and inspire. Part autobiography, part spiritual journal, and part prophecy, he has provided a refreshing oasis for every cultural pilgrim. The journey, his journey, is well worth it.

Bishop Gordon Bennett